68-year-old man dies of dengue

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

A 68-year-old man from Budge Budge died of dengue at a city hospital on Sunday, taking the toll in and around the city this season to 15.

Officials at MR Bangur Hospital said they had informed the government that Mollah Nur Mohammad had died of dengue, a notifiable disease, but the official toll stands at five since September 7. All five victims, according to the health department website, were from the city.

A conservative unofficial estimate puts the dengue death count in the city at 12 and in the adjoining areas, following Nur Mohammad’s death, to three.

Nur Mohammad, a resident of Santoshpur in Budge Budge, South 24-Parganas, had been suffering from fever for the past 10 days and had tested positive in the confirmatory dengue test, MAC-ELISA, on September 4. He was admitted to MR Bangur hospital with high fever on Saturday.

“The patient died on Sunday following dengue shock. His blood pressure had dipped,” said Santosh Roy, the medical superintendent of the hospital.

Experts say dengue shock usually results from bleeding. “Bleeding may lead to shock if not attended appropriately and urgently. Proper monitoring of the blood platelet count and some other parameters are a must,” said Amitabha Nandy, the director of the Centre for Studies on Infection and Immunity in Calcutta.

Asked why the government had not revised its toll, a health department spokesperson said: “The hospital has informed us about the patient’s death over the phone. We are expecting a formal report on Monday.”

According to officials, 702 people had tested positive for dengue in the MAC-ELISA test and 25 in the newly-introduced NS1 ELISA test this season in the city. More than 2,000 people had tested positive in the NS1 rapid antigen test.

According to doctors, however, thousands of people in and around the city are suffering from dengue and admitted to private and government hospitals, triggering a bed shortage in almost all healthcare institutes.